AIB apologizes to Christian community

Mumbai: The members behind the 'AIB Roast' of Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor on Monday met Agnelo Gracias, Auxiliary Bishop of Bombay, and apologized to the Christian community for any offense caused by some statements and actions on the show.

The celebrity roast, which is first of its kind in India, featured a panelist of AIB members with filmmaker Karan Johar taking over the role of 'roast master' to grill 'Gunday' stars Ranveer and Arjun on their professional and personal lives.

Some Christian organizations protested against remarks made on the show pertaining to Jesus and the church.

The Archdiocese of Bomba, posted on its Facebook page that Bishop Gracias has accepted AIB's apology.

"The members of the AIB Comedy Company met with Bp Agnelo Gracias, Auxiliary Bishop of Bombay and tendered an unconditional apology. Bp Agnelo Gracias on behalf of the Archdiocese of Bombay accepted the unconditional apology and in the spirit of understanding and reconciliation stated that the Archdiocese accepts the AIB apology and considers this matter closed," the Facebook page of Archdiocese of Bombay read.

They also posted the apology letter written by AIB to the church.

"We, Tanmay Bhat, Gursimran Khamba, Ashish Shakya, Rohan Joshi at AIB hereby offer an unconditional apology to the entire Christian community for any offense that may have been caused to its members as a result of the AIB Knockout," read an excerpt from the letter.

AIB members also took to social media to inform people about their meeting with the Bishop.

"We've had extensive discussions with members of the Christian community. We also met with members of the Archdiocese of Mumbai. We explained that we didn't set out to hurt or persecute the Christian community (or indeed any community) when we wrote and performed those jokes," they wrote.

The AIB team has already removed the three-part video of the show from YouTube after it sparked a controversy for obscene language and content.